In India, nothing sells like cricket, movies and of course, religion. No matter where you are, whichever strata of society you belong to, religion helps to create that intangible, rooted obsession in all of us. Hindus are pompous Hindus, and Muslims are self-righteous owners of Islam.

And then of course, they are �proud� Indians. I am sure my statement is provocative enough to incite a few bitter onslaughts. Blame it on Amitava Kumar for revitalizing the instincts of truth in me through Husband of a Fanatic.

The communal fringe Mr. Barotia, welcomes us with his loud audacious statements on the candour of hindutva and the malicious Islam. The author very deftly showcases the Hindu fanaticism through this bigot�s inhuman, crass remarks on Gandhi, Nehru and all the supposed Muslims, who are nothing but horrible. We get a glimpse of the kind of disastrous audacity religious fanaticism breeds.

Kumar takes us to many places, New York, Gujarat, Jammu, Bhagalpur, and more importantly to many spaces, which lay in us, unattended, yet catalytically determining our feelings towards Muslims, in moments of religious crisis. The camps post-Godhra, where Kumar sympathetically interacts with the victims, offer the gruesome, horrifying acts of terrorism. There have been moments while reading this book when the narration of rape, murder and violence seemed to torture me mentally. The author�s desperation at being flawlessly loyal to the experiences of the victims might get repulsive for some.
But as you move on, you seem to have taken it in your stride, somewhat like the ones in the camps. As if they had a better option!

The memoir is one of a writer, who�s baffled by the religious fanaticism, prompted by a handful Barotia�s. The chapter �Textbook Enemies� bears testimony to the confusion of Kumar - do we really hate Pakistanis? Is the wrath we share so obsessively, one based on reason, or on malice, that has been nurtured for long and practiced through ages?

The cataloguing of letters from across the border, only catalogued the varied and mixed feelings we have for our neighbouring country, which was once a part of this emerging Hindu nation. And honestly, this chapter moved me the most being, the most well placed text in the entire literary piece. It offered solace when the author remarks, �This feeling of killing loses its oppressive, urgent presence, when peace returns to the neighbourhoods�.

However, at times the pace of the pen slackens, making for a really tedious, droning reading. I think the book, with half the incidents narrated, would churn out the same response, if not a more interesting one. But the book definitely testifies to a lot of research and that helps us to gauge our India better.

All in all, Kumar can be termed as an honest writer. His purpose seems to me a desperate attempt at instilling love and compassion by portraying the devastating eventualities of the �murderously hyper nationalist times�.

�Gingerly walking with concentration�- we find ourselves �learning to recognize voices in the dark�.

Devapriya Banerjee

Click here to read the interview of Amitava Kumar.